Recent Blog Posts
Businesses Up Their Security and Theft Monitoring at the End of the Year
The most booming time of year for retailers is the end of the calendar year. With all of the shopping that goes along with the holiday season, retailers pull out all the stops and offer great sales to draw in customers. Retailers also engage in gimmicks to draw in business, such as two-for-one deals or Black Friday sales. Whatever retailers can do to get customers into their stores and spend money is all that matters this time of year. However, the end of the calendar year is also a time when retailers increase their store security efforts and monitor most closely for instances of retail theft.
With more customers in their stores, there is an increased likelihood that theft will occur more frequently. Customers might try and hide unsoldmerchandise in shopping bags they are carrying from other stores, and may try to simply walk out of the store without paying. Theft is a serious problem for retailers, so it makes sense that retailers would take extra precautions this time of year to catch people in the act.
Charged With Domestic Violence When You Acted in Self-Defense?
Domestic disputes occurbetween significant others and family members frequently in Illinois. Sometimes these get out of hand andrise to the level of domestic violence.
Under Illinois law, domestic violence generally involves acts of violence or threatening behavior between two people who share a domestic relationship, or used to share a domestic relationship. Domestic violence disputes arise between spouses, exes, significant others, family members who are related by blood or marriage, and people who share a living space, such as roommates.
Even the most minor physical contact can be construed as a battery. If you are concerned that someone is likely to make a false claim of domestic violence against you, you should avoid making physical contact with that person at all costs. But just because you deliberately refrain from physical contact does not mean that someone will not make an attack on you.
Criminal Trespass Charges: When You Are Asked to Leave But You Do Not
All too often individuals are faced with criminal trespass to real property charges, under 720 ILCS 5/21-3, when they were asked to leave a place but do not do so. This scenario plays out a handful of different ways:
- A patron might be asked to leave a bar, club, or restaurant after becoming too intoxicated and rowdy, or getting into a fight with another patron or employee of the establishment;
- An individual might be causing a dramatic and disruptive scene in a business establishment in view of other patrons;
- An individual might have conducted him or herself inappropriately, but not necessarily in violation of the law, in a business establishment, and is then asked to leave;
- An individual might ignore posted signs saying “do not enter” or “authorized personnel only beyond this point”; or
- An individual might knowingly go into a restricted area after being warned not to go into that area.
Study Suggests “Special” Wedding Dates Increase Chance of Divorce
Are you the type of person who sees repeating numbers on a digital clock-4:44 pm, for example-and encourages your friends to make a wish? Perhaps the question is particularly relevant considering today’s calendar date of 11/11. A large number of people find significance in patterns found in numbers, while, for many others, such patterns inspire curious, coincidental amusement. In fact, couples around the world intentionally choose dates with numerical patterns to celebrate their wedding ceremonies. However, a new study suggests that those who get married on gimmicky dates divorce nearly a third more often than those who marry on ordinary days.
Special Days and Regular Days
A team of economists from Australia’s University of Melbourne wanted to see if there was any connection between a couple’s wedding date and the likelihood of their divorce. Previous studies have looked at the size and cost of a wedding, as well as impact that age, remarriage, and children may have on the probably of divorce, but the researchers believed that they were the first to examine the calendar date of the wedding itself.
Is There a Difference Between Burglary and Attempted Burglary in Illinois?
What happens to a person who was caught in the middle of committing a burglary? If the burglary was never completed, meaning you never had the chance to get away with anything you stole or were planning to steal, are you still charged with burglary?
Intent is All That is Required
In Illinois, there is no difference between attempted burglary and burglary, because under the law, all you need to have is the intent to steal from, or commit a felony in, a place where you are not authorized to be. You do not actually have to take anything, nor do you even have to attempt to take something from someone else’s property, in order to be charged with burglary. Simply having the intent to steal something, or to commit a felony, is enough.
Many criminal defendants wonder how intent can be proven. If you did not take anything, and you do not flat out admit that you were there to steal something, how will the police know that you ever had intent to take something? Police take burglary very seriously, and will investigate the scene of the crime to look for clues that indicate you may have had the intent to steal something before you were caught.
Identity Theft is a Theft Crime
Committing Identity Theft
When most people think of identity theft they think of cyber hacking. However, identity theft is not just a crime that is committed by high-tech cyber thieves.Identity theft can occurwhen a personuses another individual’spersonal identificationinformation,such as one’sname, Social Security number, driver’s license, passport, credit card number, or other financial information, withoutpermission, to commit fraud or other crimes.
Moreover,identity theft can becommitted bystealing an individual’smail and then completing credit card applications in the name of the victim.An identity thiefmay even open a new bank or a credit card account in a victim’sname or may change the mailing address of a victim’sexisting account so he or shecan use the accountwithout the victim’sknowledge. When athief uses anaccount without paying the bills, the delinquent accounts are noted on a victim’scredit report.
Retail Theft Can be a Felony Offense
Shoplifting is one of the most frequently committed theft crimes in Illinois. Shoplifting involves knowingly taking merchandise from a store without the intention of paying retail price for the item that is stolen. Shoplifting can take many forms, including taking physical possession of a retail item and removing it from a store without payment, altering or swapping out labels or price tags to get a desired retail item at a cheaper price, and swapping a retail item’s packaging for the packaging of another, less expensive item. If you have been charged with retail theft, regardless of whether it is a misdemeanor charge or a felony charge, you need to get in touch with an experienced retail theft criminal defense attorney as soon as possible.
When Retail Theft Rises to the Level of a Felony
Many people who engage in retail theft do notthink that the charges associated with their offense will be very serious. But this is a misconception. Even as a first-time offender, stealing something from a store that has a full retail value of more than $300 can result in a class 3 felony charge for retail theft.
Driving Without a License: How Common is it in Illinois?
Countless people in Illinois get behind the wheel when they do not have a valid driver’s license. These drivers may have never obtained a driver’s license in the first place, could have a suspended driver’s license, or could have had their driving privileges revoked. According to a recent news article posted by WREX.com, far more Illinois drivers get behind the wheel without a valid driver’s license than onemight think.
What Motivates People to Drive Without a License?
According to the article, across the state of Illinois, state law enforcement have issued citations to more than 100,000 drivers who were behind the wheel while driving on a revoked or suspended driver’s license. Between the years of 2011 and 2015, there were more than 300,000 convictions for driving with a revoked or suspended driver’s license. Why are these numbers so high? Why do people choose to risk it and drive when they do not have a valid driver’s license?
Stay-at-Home Dads and the Allocation of Parental Responsibilities in Illinois
While fathers have always played an important role in the upbringing and development of children, they have not always been treated as such by the courts. This was often due to the assignment of traditional gender roles. Further, it was originally thought that the mother was more critical in the child’s early years. Yet, as time passed, fathers began to gain some important recognition in the lives of their children. The composition of families also started to change. Now there are fathers who stay home with their children and mothers who work outside of the home. Does this necessarily affect the allocation of parental responsibilities or assignment of parenting time in divorce though? It is possible but not guaranteed.
How Child-Related Matters Are Determined
In Illinois, divorcing parents are permitted to negotiate an agreement regarding the allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time details of their case. Generally, this offers numerous benefits for families, including the freedom to create a parenting plan that is more tailored to their family’s specific needs. For example, if the couple feels the child and family would benefit most from the father receiving a greater allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time because he works from home, they could create and agree upon a parenting plan that reflects this decision.
What Are Your Rights at a DUI Checkpoint?
DUI checkpoints are common in Rolling Meadows and the surrounding areas. Law enforcement will setup a checkpoint-a temporary stop-to seeif a driveris intoxicated on drugs or alcohol while driving.However, theproblem with DUI checkpoints is that the police officers who man these stopsmaytake too many liberties when it comes to investigating potentially intoxicated drivers. Therefore, itis important to understand your rightsif you are stopped.
You Do Not Have to Answer Questions
Often,drivers do not realize that they are not required to answer a police officer’s questions when stopped at a DUI checkpoint. When a police officer asks where you wereearlier in the evening, or where you are going, you do not have to answer. Police officersaskthese questions to gather evidence against you, and you do not have to incriminate yourself. If you are not under arrest, then the police have no right to interrogate you. As such, you can politely decline to answer their questions at a DUI checkpoint.
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